Audio 3:36
Human Rights lawyers urge changes to disabled voting laws

Samantha DonovanUpdated
Fri 24 Jan 2014, 7:44 PM AEDT

Human Rights lawyers are urging the Australian Government to change Australia's electoral laws to ensure that people with a disability aren't excluded from voting. The existing law allows anyone on the electoral role to apply to have another person excluded because they are of 'unsound mind'. The Human Rights Law Centre says this provision breaches Australia's obligations under international law.

Transcript

DAVID MARK: Human rights lawyers are urging the Federal Government to change the law so that people with a disability aren't excluded from voting.

In a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission, the Human Rights Law Centre says the existing electoral laws are discriminatory and breach Australia's international obligations.

Emily Howie, from the Human Rights Law Centre, is speaking here to Samantha Donovan.

EMILY HOWIE: We are really concerned that the Australian Electoral Act continues to remove people with disability from the electoral roll. We think the law is archaic and derogatory, and it uses stigmatising language that doesn't reflect the true capacity of people with disabilities to vote.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: What does the law actually say?

EMILY HOWIE: It says that people who are unable to understand the nature and consequences of voting by reason of unsound mind are unable to be on the electoral roll.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: And in practical terms around Australia, how is that actually assessed?

EMILY HOWIE: It's assessed by the Australian electoral commissioner on the advice of a doctor. Any person who's on the electoral roll in Australia can object to the enrolment of somebody on the basis that they're unable to understand the nature and consequence of voting by reason of unsound mind.

And if a medical practitioner provides evidence supporting that view, then the person of so-called 'unsound mind' can be removed from the electoral roll. And we know that thousands of people are removed from the electoral roll each year on this basis.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: What's wrong with that test, though? Surely some people, unfortunately, just don't have the mental capacity to vote?

EMILY HOWIE: Disability, though, should not be a reason for removing people from the electoral roll; there are plenty of people with disability who are able to cast their vote, or who may, with support, be able to cast their vote. And that is what we think the Australian Government should focus on. The problem is that the law only imposes this test of capacity on people of so-called 'unsound mind'.

And that is why it discriminates against people with disability; disability alone can't be the cause of removing people the right to vote, because there's plenty of people in the Australian electorate that might be seen as unable to understand the nature and consequence of voting. It's not for the Government to determine what a political opinion is that's valid, or the level of knowledge that's required to cast your vote.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: How does your centre argue that people with a disability should be supported so that they can vote?

EMILY HOWIE: It really depends on the type of disability that people have. But some people might need assistance to get to a booth, for example, and assistance to enrol to vote. And the international law and practice on this topic is very clear: that you can't stop people from voting because of their disability.

And as well as that, there's a positive duty on states like Australia to support people to cast their vote on election day.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Has the UN had anything to say about the Australian law?

EMILY HOWIE: Yeah, last year the United Nations committee of experts on disability discrimination called on Australia to remove these 'unsound mind' exclusions, because that committee recognised that by the fact that only people of unsound mind are put to this test, it is disability discrimination, and it ought to be removed.

DAVID MARK: That's Emily Howie from the Human Rights Law Centre, and she was speaking with Samantha Donovan.